No Airport At Cliffe News Updates

Opposition grows and strengthens?

CLIFFE POOLS AND NORTHWARD HILL RSPB reserve open day/special event @ NWH between 6pm and 10pm on Friday the 30th of August, all supporters are very welcome and invited! More details will be published in due course.NO AIRPORT AT CLIFFE will be present at the Rutland Bird Fair, you`ll find us on the main RSPB stand. The Birdwatch magazine football team will be sporting campaign T-shirts as match team kit in the Rutland Bird Fair soccer tournament. Also, keep an eye out for the August edition of Birdwatch magazine. it will feature many campaign related pieces that include: An exclusive first time published photo from the fresh Gordon Langsbury photo shoot, out and about on the peninsular! A Hoo peninsular 5 page article authored by the wardens, 3 pages in the Have You Heard section, and an Editorial lead piece. Pledge your support at: NoAirportAtCliffe@rspb.org.uk . Visit http://www.rspb.org.uk for more info`….NO AIRPORT AT CLIFFE T-shirts are now available at: Pulborough Brooks RSPB Reserve Visitor Center and Dungeness RSPB Reserve Visitor Centre, and also on the RSPB member group stands at the following events: Kent County Show, Detling 12/13/14 July. Grain Village Fete, 27th July. Ploughing Match, Wouldham 28th September. Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre Monday to Saturday 7th - 12th October SUNDAY 7th JULY 2002REVEALED: HUGE EXPANSION PLAN FOR BRITISH AIRPORTS.The government is to unveil proposals for the biggest expansion of the UK`s airports for 50 years: the details will be announced within the next two weeks. At least three new runways will be built in south-east England, and while Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted may be the favourites, building at Cliffe in North Kent is not ruled out. Article and leader. SUNDAY TIMES.In a letter to the Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Transport, RSPB Cheif Executive Graham Wynne communicated:We believe that the Government should re-examine the economic and environmental case for a new airport at Cliffe very carefully before proposing this as a firm option. I understand that the consultation on runway capacity may be postponed from its expected publication date at the end of this month. The Government could take advantage of any delay by ruling this option out altogether and thereby obviate the need for another defining environmental dispute over a major infrastructure project. (25 June 2002). Please pledge your NO AIRPORT AT CLIFFE CAMPAIGN support contact: NoAirportAtCliffe@rspb.org.uk. Keep up to date about the airport threat at http://www.rspb.org.uk or by phoning Wildlife Enquiries on: 01767 680551.MORE:..

Pledges of support:Special thanks to all you that have visited Cliffe pools reserve recently, and shown how much you care! Further thanks to all those who have made contact with your pledges of support from near and far! A selection follow.Bill Oddie says… I`m absolutely appalled by this preposterous threat to build an airport across Cliffe RSPB reserve and the surrounding area, destroying our precious priceless North Kent marshes for ever. This tragedy cannot be allowed to happen to our national heritage, I totally support the No Airport @ Cliffe Campaign, I`m with you all the way 100%, count me in!Ornithological Societies & Bird Observatories pledge support: The Kent Ornithological Society (KOS) http://www.kentos.org.uk objects to any proposal to build a new international airport on the North Kent Marshes. The area at threat is of not only local but also international importance for its wildlife. Its value to birds and other wildlife is recognised by its protection as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area under the European Birds Directive and as a wetland of global importance under the Ramsar Convention. It is hugely significant for supporting migrating and resident bird species, many of which are already declining. But it is not only the wildlife significance of the area that makes it worth conserving; the area is one of the last truly wild areas in the South-East of the UK and is therefore of huge importance as an amenity to not only birds and birdwatchers but also those who enjoy the outdoors. The KOS gives its whole-hearted support to the RSPB NO AIRPORT @ CLIFFE campaign. With the County Bird Records on a database, we are in a position not only to provide any significant records of value, but interpretations of the data to emphasise the outstanding, environmental importance of the area. We will also be encouraging our members to support this campaign. Signed on behalf of the KOS by President: Jim Flegg, Chairman: Ian Castle, Chairman of the editorial and records sub-committee: Don Taylor, Chairman of the conservation and surveys sub-committee: Rod SmithI would like on behalf of Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory Trust to add our support to the NO AIRPORT @ CLIFFE CAMPAIGN. Although a long way away from our patch we realise the immense destruction an airport in this area would cause. GOOD LUCK WITH THE CAMPAIGN and WELL DONE for bringing it to everybody`s attention and keeping it in the news. John van der DolThe KOS Editorial & Records Sub-Committee pledges its support for the NO AIRPORT @ CLIFFE CAMPAIGN. Chairman - Don Taylor, Members: Chris Abrams, Jonathan Braggs, Geoff Burton, John Clements, Martin Coath, Pete Findley, Tim Hodge, Ian Hodgson, Richard Jenkinson, Ken Lodge, Mike McDonnell and Nick Tardivel. Rarity Panel Chairman - Barry Wright, Members: Gordon Allison, Phil Chantler, Gary Howard, James Hunter and Nigel JarmanFrom Near:Dear all, We`d like to register our support for the campaign to oppose the building of the new airport, it beggars belief that such a development could be considered in such an important area for birds and wildlife. With best wishes - Drs. Ian Broadbent and Gillian Strachan, Dept. of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Aberdeen Institute of Medical Sciences.Anita Gibbs who pledged support and features the campaign on the Battle (East Sussex) Members` Group Website at http://www.rspb.org.uk/caffairs/NAAC/ And Far:We have heard from Proact of the threat to the birds and their habitats in the Hoo peninsula should an airport be built at Cliffe in Kent, UK. This proposal should be rejected at all costs and you can rely on our support. The destruction of the remaining habitats, and the subsequent decline of disappearance of species - birds, plants, mammals or other organisms, can no longer be decided at a local or national level alone. These are planetary resources and our common inheritance. Please campaign on our behalf - for OUR birds and their habitats. Regards, Peter Lobo, Gurudongma Tours & Treks, Gurudongma House, Hilltop, Kalimpong 734301, IndiaOleksandr Ruchko who pledged support and features the campaign on the UKRAINIAN BIRDWATCHING CENTRE IN LVIV website at http://www.birdwatching.lviv.ua/ Over to Bob Scott:Anyone with an interest in birds, the wider countryside, conservation and the environment has only to stand on the Thames marshes in Kent and gaze across at the Essex coast with its refineries, industry and buildings, to appreciate the importance and value of the marshes from Cliffe to the Isle of Grain. When I was RSPB Senior Warden at Northward Hill and living on the marshes in Swigshole Cottage - the contrast between the two sides of the river was particularly striking at night. Essex was a blaze of lights and flares and (although we could not hear it) I suspect noise. The Kent side of the river was quiet, restful and the stars shone brilliantly from a black sky. The only noise, the Nightingales in the wood and the Lapwings and Redshank out on the marshes. In the winter the feeding geese and waders called with the changing tides. The loss of this site to an airport would be criminal. The prospects for Cliffe and the Thames marshes had, until recently, never looked brighter with RSPB land management and ownership extending over such a wide area - an area that I use to survey and dream of being a nature reserve. Now with just the final elements within our grasp - the spectre of an airport looms (once again!) over the site. It cannot and must not be allowed to happen. R E (BOB) SCOTT. Chairman Dungeness Bird Observatory Trustees, Chairman Cambridgeshire Bird Club, Past Vice-President British Ornithologists Union, Committee member British Ornithologists Club, Director journal British BirdsThe following members of the Loose Footpaths Group pledge their support for the No Airport @ Cliffe Campaign:Andrea Bourne, Bob Bourne, Glenda Bourne, David Bryden, Carol Cambacedes, Pam Chapman, Joan Davies, John Little, Dennis Pook, Margaret Pook, Trish Pringle, Katherine Rogers, Steve Rogers, Jo Shearin, Don Taylor, Hilary Thornburgh and Joan Weekes.I wish to pledge the Medway Countryside Forum`s strong support for the NO AIRPORT @ CLIFFE CAMPAIGN, which we understand is being co-ordinated by the RSPB. We certainly agree that a high profile campaign is vitally important. Our very best wishes for all NO AIRPORT@ CLIFFE campaign efforts. David Murr. Chairman, Medway Countryside Forum.Thanks also to Brent Hansen (President and Chief Executive MTV Networks Europe) for his much valued pledge of support.MORE:The BIG SIT demonstration of support being held at the Cliffe Reserve continues, the tally of species seen from the HOPE POINT viewing mound by campaigners has now reached 100